Talend announced that it has entered into a memorandum of understanding with Thoma Bravo, a leading private equity investment firm focused on the software and technology-enabled services sectors, under which Thoma Bravo intends to commence a tender offer to acquire all of the outstanding ordinary shares and American Depositary Shares ("ADSs") of Talend, for $66.00 per ordinary share and ADS (each ADS representing one ordinary share) in cash. The offer, which values Talend at approximately $2.4 billion, represents a premium of approximately 29% to Talend's closing price on March 9 and an 81% premium to the volume weighted average price over the last twelve months. The Talend Board of Directors unanimously approved the memorandum of understanding.

Subject to and upon completion of the transaction, Talend would become a private company and continue investing in its cloud transition as well as products and solutions that serve the evolving data needs of its customers.

"We are pleased to move forward with Thoma Bravo, as the transaction will deliver compelling and certain cash value to Talend shareholders and significant strategic, long-term benefits for our customers, employees, and other stakeholders," said Steve Singh, Chairman of the Board of Talend. "Our Board is focused on driving shareholder value and has periodically evaluated potential transaction alternatives in the context of our standalone plan over the past several years. With the successful advancement of our transformation effort led by our CEO over the past year, the Talend Board and management team conducted a targeted process with potential financial and strategic parties to determine the best path forward for the Company. We believe the transaction with Thoma Bravo validates the Talend team's success in building a data market leader."

"The last twelve months have underscored the importance of digital transformation and the unique and vital role Talend plays in ensuring enterprises can trust the data fueling their business," said Christal Bemont, Chief Executive Officer of Talend. "I am pleased with how the team has executed through the challenges of 2020 and successfully delivered on the strategic initiatives and targets we laid out a year ago. As we look forward, the transaction with Thoma Bravo - a firm with a successful track record of helping the companies it acquires achieve long-term, sustainable growth - will provide Talend with additional capital, resources, and expertise to execute against our mission and leverage a large market opportunity to help all organizations become data-driven. I want to thank the Talend team for their dedication to our company and customers; it is the incredible women and men of Talend who have helped build a leading platform and made this exciting transaction possible."

"We are thrilled to partner with the management team at Talend to continue to build upon their leadership position in the cloud data integration market," said Seth Boro, a Managing Partner at Thoma Bravo. "We are confident we can apply our experiences working with market-leading software companies to accelerate Talend's growth and complete its transition to the cloud."

"Data has become critical to every facet of the world, and Talend's data fabric empowers organizations to operationalize their data," said Chip Virnig, a Partner at Thoma Bravo. "Talend has built the leading cloud-native orchestration platform that helps organizations bring together all their data, wherever it may sit, to solve their most complex problems."

Transaction Details

Under the terms of the binding memorandum of understanding, Thoma Bravo will initiate a cash tender offer of $66.00 (approximately €55.54) per Talend ordinary share and ADS, subject to certain conditions. This offer values Talend at approximately $2.4 billion or approximately €2.1 billion, including net debt. 

The agreement includes a 30-day "go-shop" period expiring on April 10, 2021, which permits Talend's Board and advisors to solicit alternative acquisition proposals. Talend has the right to terminate the memorandum of understanding to enter into a superior proposal subject to certain terms and conditions of the memorandum of understanding. There can be no assurance that this "go-shop" will result in a superior proposal, and Talend does not intend to disclose developments with respect to the solicitation process unless and until it determines such disclosure is appropriate or is otherwise required.

In the event that Talend's Board recommends the tender offer to the holders of ordinary shares and ADSs upon completion of the appropriate works council consultations, Thoma Bravo will commence the tender offer thereafter. The closing of the transaction is subject to the valid tender pursuant to the tender offer of ordinary shares and ADSs of Talend representing - together with ordinary shares and ADSs of Talend then beneficially owned by Thoma Bravo, if any - at least 80% of the outstanding ordinary shares and ADSs, receipt of customary transactional regulatory approvals (including French foreign investment control procedure) and other customary closing conditions.

In addition, in case of said recommendation, Talend will convene an ordinary and extraordinary general meeting of the shareholders to vote on a transaction that would result in the Company structurally, but not operationally, redomiciling in the Netherlands. Following the closing of the tender offer and completion of said transaction, any ordinary shares or ADSs not tendered would be ultimately redeemed for a price equal to the price per ordinary share and ADS as paid in the tender offer.  In connection with these transactions, Talend's existing French activities, including assets, liabilities and employees, would be first transferred to a new wholly-owned French subsidiary. 

The tender offer is currently expected to close in the third quarter of 2021 and the redomiciling and related transactions are currently expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2021. Talend will become a privately held company and Talend's ADSs will no longer be listed on any public market, assuming the completion of the tender offer and the redomiciling and related transactions.